In reflecting on my recent experiences I realized that to perfect some piece you have to be willing to fail over and over again, but never accept any failure as final. That's kinda how it work in life...you have to take risks knowing they may not work and you're going to have to try again.
The thing is, if you don't give it your best you WILL fail. That's pretty much the only guarantee you get.
This is the nature of learning math that really makes me feel pride in my students when they are successful. I know they had to struggle and fail.
For me learning something challenging helps me better relate to, and motivate, my students.
When I was hired a fortune cookie writer, it lasted about 2 hours. Too many words. They said I'd be better off having written, "Luck favors the prepared." Ugh. Too cliche!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Sources, influences: More More More
Youtube is your friend.
The library is your friend.
Both are free!
I subscribe to a lot of different channels on youtube. Just about every day there are new videos to watch. Sometimes it's just people playing, sometimes it's lessons. Sometimes I don't learn anything from either, but sometimes I stumble across something endlessly useful!
The library has lots and lots of books and dvds on guitar playing. They're free! Check 'em out. This week I checked out a DVD on Rock Guitar that was, surprisingly, a little below my playing level. However, I still picked up at least a dozen little things and a few chords I didn't know!
The library is your friend.
Both are free!
I subscribe to a lot of different channels on youtube. Just about every day there are new videos to watch. Sometimes it's just people playing, sometimes it's lessons. Sometimes I don't learn anything from either, but sometimes I stumble across something endlessly useful!
The library has lots and lots of books and dvds on guitar playing. They're free! Check 'em out. This week I checked out a DVD on Rock Guitar that was, surprisingly, a little below my playing level. However, I still picked up at least a dozen little things and a few chords I didn't know!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
What do you know?
One of the surprising, though it shouldn't be, results of learning songs WITH the music, is the following realization: You don't really know the song unless you can play it with the music! You can memorize the notes and even play it in time and make it sound right in your head. However, you don't really know the song until you can play it with the music.
Another thing I've done is purposely skipped playing solos/leads for the past few weeks. Instead I've focused only on the rhythms. This week was the first time I focused on playing leads or solos. I was surprised by how I hear them differently than I did before. I hear how they maintain the rhythm of the song. That's kind of cool.
Anyhow, here's another song that I don't typically listen to, and would probably change the radio station if it came on. It's AC/DC's Back in Black. It was surprisingly fun to play. I never really learned the solo as I wanted to listen and try and play along (not note for note, just fit).
Another thing I've done is purposely skipped playing solos/leads for the past few weeks. Instead I've focused only on the rhythms. This week was the first time I focused on playing leads or solos. I was surprised by how I hear them differently than I did before. I hear how they maintain the rhythm of the song. That's kind of cool.
Anyhow, here's another song that I don't typically listen to, and would probably change the radio station if it came on. It's AC/DC's Back in Black. It was surprisingly fun to play. I never really learned the solo as I wanted to listen and try and play along (not note for note, just fit).
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Types of Knowledge: Music is harder than Math
You can know OF something. You can know ABOUT something. You can know HOW TO do something.
There are a lot of things that I know of and know about, but do not know how to do. Example: I know OF the lydian scale. I could look it up and see how it is derived. Then I'd know ABOUT it. I could listen and realize that Steve Vai uses it frequently in his music. That's something else I could know ABOUT it. I could even learn how to play the scale on my guitar. However, for a musician, that's still just knowing ABOUT it.
When I was studying mathematics at the University of Arizona I took a Geometry Class. The "stuff" we covered in that class was very basic and fundamental...we (the students) already thought we knew those things. On day one the professor told us that we can, "Know Of, Know About, or Know How." We spent the semester fully exploring the differences between those things. To have a complete and balanced knowledge, the type required to be an expert, you need all three.
Well, for guitar, I don't really want to be an expert that can discuss complex things at their most basic and probing levels. That would take years upon years of learning ABOUT. However, it is my nature to often be satisfied knowing ABOUT something. My ego will color my perception and trick me into thinking I know HOW TO do that something. And the purpose of guitar is doing something, not talking about it!
To know HOW TO implies an ability, an action. That's what I really want! I want to be able to listen to music and know what I'm hearing (requires ABOUT knowledge), and be able to have some creative ideas that I can express, which requires the HOW TO knowledge.
What I have found is that when studying, for example, a jazz basics book, is this: The book spends much time on different fingerings for the major scale, or how to find all of the triads on the guitar, then all of the inversions. I do them a few times and I know it. But I know it as a mathematician knows how to find an integral after NOT doing one for years. I mean, I can figure it out. But it's NOT automatic.
Musicians need the automatic. They need to have the HOW TO knowledge on a muscle memory, reflexive level. That takes a lot of devotion and concentration. I sometimes find myself wandering when practicing the triads, especially since I don't know where I'm going with them (how I'll be using them).
So all of this has been written to share this one point: learning music is harder than math!
There are a lot of things that I know of and know about, but do not know how to do. Example: I know OF the lydian scale. I could look it up and see how it is derived. Then I'd know ABOUT it. I could listen and realize that Steve Vai uses it frequently in his music. That's something else I could know ABOUT it. I could even learn how to play the scale on my guitar. However, for a musician, that's still just knowing ABOUT it.
When I was studying mathematics at the University of Arizona I took a Geometry Class. The "stuff" we covered in that class was very basic and fundamental...we (the students) already thought we knew those things. On day one the professor told us that we can, "Know Of, Know About, or Know How." We spent the semester fully exploring the differences between those things. To have a complete and balanced knowledge, the type required to be an expert, you need all three.
Well, for guitar, I don't really want to be an expert that can discuss complex things at their most basic and probing levels. That would take years upon years of learning ABOUT. However, it is my nature to often be satisfied knowing ABOUT something. My ego will color my perception and trick me into thinking I know HOW TO do that something. And the purpose of guitar is doing something, not talking about it!
To know HOW TO implies an ability, an action. That's what I really want! I want to be able to listen to music and know what I'm hearing (requires ABOUT knowledge), and be able to have some creative ideas that I can express, which requires the HOW TO knowledge.
What I have found is that when studying, for example, a jazz basics book, is this: The book spends much time on different fingerings for the major scale, or how to find all of the triads on the guitar, then all of the inversions. I do them a few times and I know it. But I know it as a mathematician knows how to find an integral after NOT doing one for years. I mean, I can figure it out. But it's NOT automatic.
Musicians need the automatic. They need to have the HOW TO knowledge on a muscle memory, reflexive level. That takes a lot of devotion and concentration. I sometimes find myself wandering when practicing the triads, especially since I don't know where I'm going with them (how I'll be using them).
So all of this has been written to share this one point: learning music is harder than math!
Time...
Sucks when you have something you want to and something else that you need to do and they are incompatible. That's how it goes. Over the past week I've had a number of priorities that have limited my practice time. As a result, I never really got down the song I was learning to the level I wished.
Led Zeppelin's Bring It On Home (a remake of course), is simple and easy to play. But playing with Led Zeppelin's rhythm is so much fun. It's so easy to lock in. The difficult part for me was keeping time on my own for the introduction of the song. I can't hear Jimmy Page's guitar when I'm playing because it's so dark and deep sounding.
Here it is:
Led Zeppelin's Bring It On Home (a remake of course), is simple and easy to play. But playing with Led Zeppelin's rhythm is so much fun. It's so easy to lock in. The difficult part for me was keeping time on my own for the introduction of the song. I can't hear Jimmy Page's guitar when I'm playing because it's so dark and deep sounding.
Here it is:
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Learning Songs...not intros
I know the intro or main riff to about a million or so songs. There's a HUGE difference between being able to play a song so someone can recognize it and playing it in time with the original.
I always seem to fool myself into thinking, "Yeah, I can do that." However, I never did, so I never developed a huge part of playing music: time. Now, I can play some songs in time, note for note, but it takes me a long time to get a new song down.
Part of what I'm doing is learning new songs in time with the original studio recordings to help develop my listening skills and so on. I figured I could never really play in a band and listen to changes if I can't play along with a song.
So the second song I undertook was Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak. I wasn't sure if anything in this song would cause a problem, I thought, yeah, I can do that. Sure enough, something did cause a problem.
There's a pause for a beat in the main riff. The riff starts off with an A chord (power), then an E (power chord too). Then it hits an F-sharp. THEN A PAUSE. What I found is that I can come in after the pause on time, 99% of the time. However, if I missed, I was late (or early depending on how I missed) the rest of the time. I wasn't listening and adjusting well.
So I had to literally stomp my foot for that silent note (the pause). Then, naturally, I start using my foot to keep time for the whole song. This is a strange thing for me as usually when I use my foot to keep time I end up tapping along with the notes I'm playing, not the time itself. So, I took steps in the right direction here in keeping time with my feet.
Anyhow, here's the video. It's recorded with a video camera as I was having some latency problems with my audio.
I always seem to fool myself into thinking, "Yeah, I can do that." However, I never did, so I never developed a huge part of playing music: time. Now, I can play some songs in time, note for note, but it takes me a long time to get a new song down.
Part of what I'm doing is learning new songs in time with the original studio recordings to help develop my listening skills and so on. I figured I could never really play in a band and listen to changes if I can't play along with a song.
So the second song I undertook was Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak. I wasn't sure if anything in this song would cause a problem, I thought, yeah, I can do that. Sure enough, something did cause a problem.
There's a pause for a beat in the main riff. The riff starts off with an A chord (power), then an E (power chord too). Then it hits an F-sharp. THEN A PAUSE. What I found is that I can come in after the pause on time, 99% of the time. However, if I missed, I was late (or early depending on how I missed) the rest of the time. I wasn't listening and adjusting well.
So I had to literally stomp my foot for that silent note (the pause). Then, naturally, I start using my foot to keep time for the whole song. This is a strange thing for me as usually when I use my foot to keep time I end up tapping along with the notes I'm playing, not the time itself. So, I took steps in the right direction here in keeping time with my feet.
Anyhow, here's the video. It's recorded with a video camera as I was having some latency problems with my audio.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Paul Gilbert
I'm taking Paul Gilbert's advice as much as I can. He said in these videos to 1. stand up and play, 2. learn songs that stretch you AND are not what you normally play, 3. play with other people.
The third is difficult to do on a regular basis where I live, but the first two, I'm all over those!
The problem I know I have the most of is timing. Staying in time, listening to the drums, locking into the groove. It's rough. FRUSTRATING. Here's the deal, I'll play the intro right on, first verse, no problem, chorus, on. Second verse--off. Then the bridge, chorus, usually no problem, but if there is a third verse, I'll be off worse than the second! And the problem is consistent with several songs!
Anyhow, part of this blog will be where I post a video of a song I learned (with music and in time). I'll give myself one week to get the song. I'm mostly only focusing on the rhythms as that is what I struggle with most! It's been almost two weeks, so I've completed one song.
This isn't what I normally play or listen to, but provided a challenge because the timing absolutely has to be solid. I stray a few times in the song, but I got it done in the one week time frame.
The third is difficult to do on a regular basis where I live, but the first two, I'm all over those!
The problem I know I have the most of is timing. Staying in time, listening to the drums, locking into the groove. It's rough. FRUSTRATING. Here's the deal, I'll play the intro right on, first verse, no problem, chorus, on. Second verse--off. Then the bridge, chorus, usually no problem, but if there is a third verse, I'll be off worse than the second! And the problem is consistent with several songs!
Anyhow, part of this blog will be where I post a video of a song I learned (with music and in time). I'll give myself one week to get the song. I'm mostly only focusing on the rhythms as that is what I struggle with most! It's been almost two weeks, so I've completed one song.
This isn't what I normally play or listen to, but provided a challenge because the timing absolutely has to be solid. I stray a few times in the song, but I got it done in the one week time frame.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Introduction
I've owned guitars off and on since about 1990. I've played consistently between 1990 and 1991, owned a guitar twice between 1991 and 2007. I've been playing consistently again between 2007 and now.
Here's why I started this blog: I've come to a point where what I don't know how to do is a bit embarrassing. Like most people, I usually try to put myself in positions where I do not expose my inadequacies. Nobody likes feeling inadequate.
There's the rub. To change from a guitar owner to a guitar player to a musician, I need to address my inadequacies. Right now I can play a few songs, but not in time, not consistently. When I'm playing at home, without other people, it sounds alright. But as soon as there are other instruments, the gig is up!
The purpose of this blog is to track the steps I take to improve and change from someone who knows how to play some songs on the guitar to someone who can really play the instrument.
Here's why I started this blog: I've come to a point where what I don't know how to do is a bit embarrassing. Like most people, I usually try to put myself in positions where I do not expose my inadequacies. Nobody likes feeling inadequate.
There's the rub. To change from a guitar owner to a guitar player to a musician, I need to address my inadequacies. Right now I can play a few songs, but not in time, not consistently. When I'm playing at home, without other people, it sounds alright. But as soon as there are other instruments, the gig is up!
The purpose of this blog is to track the steps I take to improve and change from someone who knows how to play some songs on the guitar to someone who can really play the instrument.
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